When
I first arrived in Uganda, I didn’t know Augustine. In fact, we had never even spoken. He was a stranger with an email address who I
was told would be meeting me at the airport – that’s all I was going on.
But
in these short weeks he has welcomed me not only into his professional life,
but into his home and his family. During
the time we have spent together I have come to learn – in bits and pieces – a
great deal about his life and vocation.
More
than that, I have come to truly admire him.
The world needs more people like Augustine.
Augustine
Kezzy Okello was born in Lira District, one of twelve children to a farming
family. He talks of growing up plowing
fields by hand, grinding maize to put in the family’s three granaries and of
being forced to tend to his bean garden before his mother would allow him to
eat breakfast.
Augustine
was a child when the LRA’s twenty-year insurgency began in 1987. Although he was fortunate enough to escape
the worst of the conflict, he spent the majority of his youth with the rebel
threat looming just overhead; ravaging the District next door. They never knew when – and it was when, not
if – the rebels would come to Lira.
He
talks about how he would wake in the night to the sound of people running and blindly
get up and head for the woods. The
urgency of escape was so great that once his brother ended up running naked;
not willing to risk the additional time to grab clothes. He laughs about it now, but the threat was
real.
Augustine
and his family spent entire days hiding in the bushes without food and
water. The closest he came to abduction
was while attending his aunt’s funeral.
The sound of a quickly approaching truck sent the family scattering into
the brush, leaving the aunt’s body not even in her grave – a fact you can tell still
pains him. However, they all knew what
capture would mean. Death. Conscription.
Or worse -- they be forced to kill their own family members; a favored
practice of the LRA.
And
Augustine is not alone in these stories.
His brother, Jimmy Francis, talks of a time he was returning from the
local well when he heard the voices of two soldiers nearby. His dog, Mandela, began to bark incessantly
and Jimmy Francis dove into the bushes and began to run. The dog attacked the two pursuers, holding
them off long enough for Jimmy to escape.
He credits his life to that dog.
Another
time Jimmy came home from school for the weekend to help with the family
chores. When he returned, he discovered
his roommate had been abducted the very night Jimmy had left.
Even
Susan, although less forthcoming, tells of the horrors of the LRA. Her school was raided and all the children
forced to flee. As a female, her
situation was especially perilous. Women,
especially young girls, were sought after targets for the LRA. These girls would be turned over as “brides”
to rebel leaders and subjected to brutal and repeated rapings. The HIV/AIDS epidemic grew rampant.
Although
the government claims to have sent soldiers to counteract the rebels, many were
fearful for their lives and bailed before they reached the far north of the
country. Others would lay down their
arms and flee themselves upon sight of the LRA.
Worse still, many participated in the same atrocities as the
rebels. Despite international
encouragement, the President refused to declare Northern Uganda a disaster zone
so no external help arrived. Many here
feel this decision makes him implicit in the resultant atrocities.
When
the rebels arrived in Lira, they came all the way to the very edge of
town. In fact, they set up camp just on
the other side of the police station from the internally displaced persons
(IDP) camp that 350,000 people would come to call home. At times, they would fire indiscriminately
into the camp.
No
one was safe. Rebels, and even
government soldiers, would pose as security guards or escorts…only to abduct
and rape women on their way to the wells. LRA spies were frequently captured
and arrested in town. A strict 6pm curfew was implemented, and people were
forbidden to make any noise at night.
Even still, a young boy living just a few doors down from Augustine was
abducted and never seen again.
Augustine’s
family was forced to leave their farm, and lived in a rented garage in the
middle of town for 5 years. Without
their farm, they had no income or food. Augustine
talks of his mother preparing a tray full of beans, with each child rotating
taking one bite. At best, they would get
2-3 before it was gone.
In
an effort to fight back, local militias were formed – militias Augustine
credits with ending the war. His cousin
joined such a group, and was shot defending Lira. The rebels captured his body, cut off his
privates and threw the mutilated corpse back into town.
In
2001, Augustine was lucky enough to escape to the capital of Kampala. He had scored in the very highest percentile
on the National Exams and was given a very rare government scholarship to
attend Makere University – THE most prestigious school in Uganda.
Despite
his impressive credentials, work was tough to come by. Augustine applied first for a government
position, but one of his references turned out to be a political opponent of
someone in the organization and he was denied the job. A cousin secured him an interview for a job
in a prison but he refused to pay the necessary bribe, believing he should be
hired on his own merit. Being from the
North added an additional challenge – there is stigma associated with that part
of country and many people assumed he must be an LRA rebel.
Augustine
returned home to Lira in 2004, just a few years before the close of the
war. He accepted temporary work with a
humanitarian organization, conducting a survey in the IDP camps to determine
the level of malnutrition in children under five. When that position ended, he started with a
relief organization doing HIV/AIDs education in the camps. It is through that work that his true
vocation began to take shape.
He came
across a woman who was ravaged by AIDS.
Most of her family had abandoned her, leaving her alone with her two
sons. Unfortunately, she did not survive – leaving the two children
stranded. Affected by their plight,
Augustine personally adopted the youngest of the children and brought him to
live with his family. It was then he
realized the desperate need to provide educational opportunities to these kids. Without affordable schooling, many of these
traumatized children would be forced to resort to a life of crime….and likely
end up involved in gangs and drugs. This
is not the future Augustine wanted for these children or for Uganda.
Augustine
joined forces with a colleague from his work in the camps, his brother and
other members of the community to launch KEFRAMA College in 2009. The initial funding for the school came out
of their own pockets, and they continue to supplement the school to this day.
Augustine
describes KEFRAMA as his calling. He is truly
passionate about importance of education and rehabilitation for these children
– he wants to make them into “changemakers” who can rebuild Uganda. When you see him on campus, he knows each
student by name, knows where they came from and isn’t afraid to lovingly call
them out on any recent indiscretions.
The
reason he is so well acquainted with the student body: many of them have, at
one time or another, lived with Augustine or his family members. Oftentimes, these children have nowhere to go
on breaks or are afraid that if they leave they will not be allowed to return
to school. In fact, Augustine built
additional space into his home to accommodate them. He welcomes them, as he did
me, and provides for them for as long as they need.
Augustine
dreams of the day he can quit his other job and focus exclusively on KEFRAMA,
but the funding is not there yet. He
needs to keep working so he can provide for not only his family – but for
school in general and the students he takes in.
I am
proud to consider this man a colleague and a friend. I think we could all learn a lot from his
dedication.
If you want to help, please
consider making a gift to support the digging of a new well at KEFRAMA
College. Click here to learn more about
this project, or to make a gift today.
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